With the Beijing Olympics set to kick off on Friday, Canadian winter sports enthusiasts aren’t the only ones whose sights are set abroad. The Liberal government has, in recent months, begun approaching foreign and trade policy with a renewed sense of gusto.
Back in 2015, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau promised to renew Canada’s place in the world by restoring its international leadership in matters of global peace, security, and trade. Six years later, Liberals will be among the first to admit that the government has largely come up short. From a failed bid for a seat on the U.N. Security Council to underwhelming levels of international development assistance, Canada could certainly be doing more to match their earlier ambition.
Now, faced with the task of reinvigorating Canada’s economy in the wake of a pandemic, the government is beginning to shift its tone on foreign policy and trade. Shortly after the federal election, newly-minted Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly announced that the government will pursue a $3.5 billion Indo-Pacific Strategy that would seek to fundamentally redefine Canada’s approach to a region that generates a massive (and growing) chunk of global GDP. Although Canada is already a signatory to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a new approach is needed to build our presence in the region, bolster trade and investment, and chip away at our reliance on China.
Canada has also been leading recent efforts to modernize the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Ottawa Group – a coalition of 15 member states – was launched all the way back in 2018 with the goal of addressing long-term challenges facing the multilateral trading system, but the endeavor took a back seat to the NAFTA renegotiations that began to heat up around the same time. Now, however, the federal government is approaching the initiative with renewed vigor. Earlier this month, Minister of International Trade and Export Promotion Mary Ng kicked off the group’s first meeting of 2022 – its third since last fall’s election.
In addition to Ng, who has proven herself a competent lieutenant, the Prime Minister recently promoted Mélanie Joly – who, despite a rocky record in cabinet, is seen by many as a highly capable minister and a future leadership contender – to oversee Global Affairs Canada. And just last week, Steve Verheul, Freeland’s former chief NAFTA negotiator and the man who has been referred to as the architect of Canada’s trade agenda, left retirement to join Finance Canada as a special adviser on global trade issues.
Opportunities and Challenges
Clearly, Trudeau and co. want to get this right. But a long list of challenges lie ahead. First, the federal government needs to adopt a more decisive approach when it comes to trade policy. Indecision and delays, like what transpired around the trucker vaccine mandate, create confusion while taking the government off-message. On foreign policy, it is important their goals be clearly stated.
Second, Canadian policy makers need to seriously rethink our reliance on the United States as a trading partner. If the past two presidents and a global pandemic have taught us anything, it’s that our supply chains and economy are far too susceptible to the whims of our neighbours down south. The Americans will always be our largest and most important trading partner; but with the Global South rapidly laying claim to a larger slice of the world’s economic pie, calls for more serious attention to other partnerships are critical. The Indo-Pacific Strategy is an important place to start.
What’s Next?
Several months into its new mandate, the federal government’s approach to foreign relations and trade policy is off to a commendable start. To keep the momentum going, the government must commit to a proactive, carefully-planned long-term strategic vision, rather than reacting to crises and making decisions on the go. Equally important is the government’s duty to establish a more constructive partnership with industry on the shape of its trade policy. And industry, too, should continue providing input – solicited or not – to the government on how Canada’s economic recovery and vision for the future can keep moving forward.
